Hi Aurelie! Sorry it has taken so long to get back to you on Yulia Makhalina. Here are a couple of links that may be of interest. I'm afraid that she is not one of my favourites, but I'm sure you'll forgive me my bad taste:

Rumours have been flying around for some time, but a couple of days ago, a Kirov representative told me that Svetlana Zakharova is definitely moving to the Bolshoi. The Kirov has a great depth of ability, but given the number of leading roles she has enjoyed this visit and the fact that she graces the season's programme cover, she will surely be missed.

Everyone speaks highly of her technical abilities, but I have met a number of people who remain unmoved by her performances. This time I have seen her in "Swan Lake" and "Schéhérazade" and have enjoyed her technique, her movement quality and her acting. I look forward to seeing her with the Bolshoi and hope her stay there brings much joy both for herself and audiences.

OK, Stuart, I forgive you ! I am sure one day you will change your mind ... Thank you for the answer and for the links. But I regret it is very difficult to find information about her. Sorry, I don't know Zakharova.

Regarding finance, it is very good that the French state subsidises the POB to such an extent. The Royal Opera House has the largest subsidy in the Uk of around £25m or about 35% of turnover. My guess is that POB must be at least double.

Hello everybody!! I write just a few words to say that i love Zakharova! She is incredible, marvellous,beautiful,.... So she will leave of the Marinsky?? Is it a good or a bad thing? I don't really know the difference between the two! Can someone explain me?

Welcome to the Kirov forum Achyll. There are others here much better placed to respond. My initial thought is that although the Bolshoi has many excellent dancers they have suffered from political intrigue far more than the Kirov and have struggled more to find their way in post-Communist Russia.

The Bolshoi has recently appointed another new Artistic Director Alexei Ratmansky, one of the best known current Russian choreographers, so we will all have to await developments with interest. hat happens.

Achyll, when you said that you didn't know the difference between the two, did you mean the difference between the Kirov and the Mariinsky? If that is what you meant, here is a link to Topic: 1 - Introduction and News. Look for posts starting on 29 July for an explanation of the naming conventions of the Kirov (or Mariinsky).

Or were you asking about the difference between the Kirov (Mariinsky) and the Bolshoi?

Well, from my limited perspective I see the Kirov as more grand and European, whereas the Bolshoi is more "Roots of the Earth" and Russian. However, I will also say that they are closer in terms of technique and visual display than most large companies are to each other. Perhaps they are representive of the Russian dichotomy between St Petersberg and Moscow/ the West and the East. The Kirov has more "Star Power", but, at least for me, there is a slightly bigger pull towards the Bolshoi. //their dancers just feel stronger ( although the Kirvs technique as a company may be a notch up ). Hope this makes some limited sense.

Certainly the St Petersburg/Moscow difference is played out in their respective ballet companies. St Petersburg is a young city at 300 years old. it is consciously European and the Kirov/Mariinsky Company is seeped in European influence - Petipa being the obvious example, but there were many others. Moscow is very old, very Russian, still quite Oriental. It is a big bold city. The Bolshoi represents that to me.

I think the stylistic differences between the Kirov and the Bolshoi were more apparent in the past. The Kirov stylw was always considered the more classically perfect. The Bolshoi style was more dramatic, flamboyant, athletic. In the years when I first saw both of these companies (the 1960's), it was easy to see the difference. I think Kolpakova would be a good example of the Kirov style from that period, and Plisetskaya would be a good example of the Bolshoi. Well, maybe Plisetskaya is a good example of her own style! But even dancers such as Maximova had more extreme port de bras.

For many years, I've only seen the Kirov on video. When I saw the Bolshoi on a recent tour, I thought that the dancers' technique and style looked much more classical than they did in the past. I wasn't conscious of differences between the two companies.

A good Russian choreographer-dancer friend of mine believes that the Kirov has been ahead in terms of quality but that wasn't always the case -- politics had a strong role in favoring one entity over the other and we may be seeing a "normalization" in the process.

Achyll, in looking back at both companies in video and in my memories, I'd say that the Kirov is generally my favorite. But Plisetskaya, Fadeyechev, Maximova and Vasiliev, who rank among my favorite dancers, were all from the Bolshoi. However, Ulanova, another of my favorites, was from the Kirov, although she was a member of the Bolshoi by the time the company started touring in the west.

I think I liked the Bolshoi better when I was very young. And now, as I said, I don't really see a difference between the two. But I haven't seen the Kirov live yet.

Apart from Ulanova transferring to Moscow there has been a great deal of two-way traffic between the two companies. The Bolshoi's Ludmila Semenyaka was originally from St Petersburg and more recently both Andris Liepa and Nikolai Tsiskaridze have appeared with the Kirov, the former permanently and the latter as a guest.

The most significant move however was that of Yuri Grigorovitch, director of the Bolshoi for over thirty years. His ballets have very much shaped the style of the Bolshoi ballet, with their bold, dramatic style. His ballet Spartacus is as much the company's signature work as Sleeping Beauty is the Royal's. Apart from his choreography I believe Grigorovitch also had an impact on the Bolshoi corps de ballet, a sometimes ragged looking bunch before he came along. Nowadays there is little variation in quality between the Bolshoi and Kirov corps.

The move of Anastasia Volochkova from the Kirov a few years ago created a great deal of controversy in Moscow and I suspect the arrival of Zakharova won't pass without comment either as the Bolshoi has no shortage of highly talented female dancers, some of whom are currently underused.

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